As the new Union Council of Ministers is set to be sworn in today evening, several BJP leaders have confirmed that they have received calls from BJP chief Amit Shah and Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) urging them to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi at his official residence – 7, Lok Kalyan Marg and be ‘present’ during the oath-taking ceremony. It is believed that these leaders will be sworn in as the ministers in the new government. Prakash Javadekar, Santosh Gangwar, Niranjan Jyoti, Arjun Ram Meghwal, and Ramesh Pokhariya Nishank are among several other leaders who received the call so far. Prakash Javadekar handled several key portfolios including Information and Broadcasting Ministry and HRD Ministry in the first Council of Ministers headed by Modi. Reacting to the reports that he will be made the Protem Speaker of the Lok Sabha, Santosh Gangwar said: “I cannot become the Protem Speaker after becoming a minister. Someone else will get that post. I will carry out whatever responsibility will be given to me.” Gangwar was Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Labour and Employment Ministry in the first term of Modi government. Former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank too confirmed that Amit Shah had called him and told him to be ‘present’ during the oath-taking ceremony. “I received a phone call from party president Amit Shah Ji. He asked me to be present for the meeting with the Prime Minister today evening. He also asked me to be present at the oath ceremony,” Nishank said. BJP leader Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti also ‘thanked’ the Prime Minister for including her in his team. “I have received a phone call from the party president. I express my gratitude to the Prime Minister for including me in his team,” she said. Bikaner MP Arjun Ram Meghwal also thanked the Prime Minister and the BJP chief for showing their ‘trust’ in him. “I thank the PM and Amit Shah Ji for showing their trust in me. I thank them on behalf of the people of Bikaner. The PM’s vision will be significant for India. He had said that we want to remove our tag of developing nation and make India a developed nation,” he said. Newly elected BJP MP from Raiganj, West Bengal, Debasree Choudhary said that she was expecting the ‘call.’ “I am feeling very good. I was expecting the phone call. Upcoming assembly election will be one-sided because TMC will not exist. Their MLAs and councillors are joining the BJP. TMC will not be able to do anything in next election. BJP will form the government. We will finish them in 5-6 months,” she said. BJP leaders Nitin Gadkari, DV Sadananda Gowda, Dharmendra Pradhan, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Giriraj Singh, Babul Supriyo and Shiromani Akali Dal leader Harsimrat Kaur Badal will be sworn-in as ministers in the second government headed by Modi this evening. Gadkari held the portfolio of Road Transport and Highways in Modi’s first government and retained his Nagpur Lok Sabha seat in the recently concluded elections. In the last government, Pradhan, a member of Rajya Sabha, was Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Gowda was Minister for Statistics and Programme Implementation while Badal was Minister of Food Processing Industries. Naqvi, also a Rajya Sabha member, was Minister for Minority Affairs whereas Babul Supriyo was Minister of State for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises. Giriraj Singh was Minister of State for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises in the last NDA government. Before taking the oath of office, the prospective ministers will meet with Prime Minister Modi at his official residence over tea at 4:30 pm, sources said. Speaking to media here, Gowda said: “I received a call from Amit Shah. He said that I should be at the home of the Prime Minister at 5 pm and at Rashtrapati Bhawan during the swearing-in ceremony at 7 pm.” “At 5 pm, the Prime Minister will have tea with his Cabinet and other ministerial colleagues. Then we will go to the Rashtrapati Bhavan to take the oath,” he said. Modi, along with his Council of Ministers, will take oath as the 15th the Prime Minister of India at 7 pm in the forecourt of the Rashtrapati Bhavan. President Ram Nath Kovind will administer the oath of office and secrecy to them. Among foreign dignitaries, President of Bangladesh Abdul Hamid, President of Sri Lanka Maithripala Sirisena, President of Myanmar U Win Myint, Prime Minister of Bhutan Lotay Tshering, Prime Minister of Nepal KP Sharma Oli, and Thailand’s Special Envoy Grisada Boonrach have already arrived here for attending Modi’s swearing-in ceremony. The President of Kyrgyzstan Sooronbay Jeenbekov will also be present at the event. Several overseas friends of the BJP from 15 countries including the US, Australia, Germany, and the UK have also come to attend Modi’s swearing in ceremony.
